Prithu* is a 50-year-old street hawker who earns his living by selling eggs in a quiet neighborhood of north Delhi. He says he spent nearly all of his savings trying to get his 28-year-old son, Pran*, out of prison.

Prithu came to Delhi in 1985 with his wife and four children. He left Dasai, a small farming village in northern Bihar, in search of greener pastures and a better living.  He found work in a bicycle repair shop and settled down for a one-room shack in a slum, in sharp contrast to the small, concrete house he owned in the village. Prithu believed that this was a small price to pay for the good life he had imagined his family would have in the future.

For years Prithu worked at the repair shop, raising his son Pran and 9 other children before buying a wooden cart to sell eggs – a seemingly more profitable enterprise for an otherwise unskilled, illiterate man. Prithu made around $ 400 a month, which could barely support his growing family. Pran was unable to study beyond 4^th grade because his father could not afford to send all 10 children to school. So Pran dropped out of school and learned to drive, thinking he could support his family and send his younger siblings to school. Until last year, Pran was driving a hired auto-rickshaw like most auto drivers in Delhi, earning a meager sum of 500-700 rupees ($10-15) a day. But the finances of the family were thrown off balance when they learned of Pran’s detention.

Pran was arrested in February 2011 for allegedly abetting an abduction of a 17-year-old girl. On the day of the incident, two men allegedly approached Pran’s auto-rickshaw accompanying a girl and asked him to drive them to a certain location. He didn’t know the passengers and certainly did not know that the men were abducting the girl. They must have driven only a few kilometers down the road when the auto-rickshaw was intercepted by a police van. A case was made and the men were arrested, along with Pran.

Pran claimed and begged the police to set him free because he didn’t know the men were abductors, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.  Even at the time of his arrest, he told the police that he was only doing his job and had no role in the abduction, but the police did not pay any attention to his cries. He was taken into police custody and produced in court soon after. Even in court, he stated that he was only a driver and had no idea that he was, legally speaking, “abetting an abduction.’’ Yet he was unheard and remanded to judicial custody.

Days and months went by. Pran was forced to resign to a life of hopelessness and shame. He was beaten up by other jail inmates for favours and money as little as 200 rupees ($5), but he did not complain to the prison authorities. He had lost faith in the system and didn’t think there was anyone who could help him.

Prithu, Pran’s father, claims that he did not know of Pran’s arrest and reported him missing when they could not find him anywhere. The police made no attempt to inform Pran’s family of his arrest, and Pran himself was perhaps ashamed and scared to inform his father of his imprisonment. Two months later, Prithu finally learned of his son’s imprisonment.

Prithu did not have the money to visit Pran right away, but he began to apportion some money from his savings to pay to the Legal Aid lawyer who had been assigned to Pran’s case by the Legal Services Authority. Though state-sponsored legal aid lawyers are supposed to provide free legal assistance to their clients, nothing was done unless some amount of money was given to that Lawyer to initiate the paperwork as he demanded money to initiate the process.

Prithu met Pran in prison after nearly six months of his imprisonment. Pran informed his father that three to four lawyers had been assigned to the case, but no one had done anything to seek relief for him. Pran learned about legal aid from his fellow inmates and realized that if he had a competent and sincere lawyer, he could get bail. Both Prithu and Pran knew that it would be months before they would get any justice.

“Such is the system,” sighed Prithu, adding that he spent nearly 10,000 rupees ($210) to pay the lawyers who promised they would get Pran out of jail. “But nothing happened and all the money went down the drain.”

Prithu recalls that his family went through countless days of hardship and hunger trying to make ends meet and save money for Pran’s bail amount.  Prithu did not earn enough to feed 13 people, including Pran’s wife and two young children; therefore, he sent them back to the village.  Prithu worked extra hours, doing odd jobs in addition to selling eggs only so that he could save some money for his son’s release.

In January 2012 IBJ Duty lawyer Suchiti Chandra met Pran in prison and discussed the details of the case with him. She realized that the case clearly merited Pran’s release on bail. Prithu says Ms. Chandra argued for nearly four hours in court highlighting the points in favour of Pran’s innocence, and ultimately managed to secure his release on bail. After 11 unnecessary months of imprisonment, Pran was finally released from prison with his father as the guarantor of his bail.

Today, Pran’s father is back to selling eggs and knows that someday everyone in his family will have a happy and secure life. Prithu says IBJ has done what no other lawyer or his entire life’s savings could do – get freedom for his son. Pran himself is back with his wife and children in the village he left behind. He is working as a mechanic at a cycle repair shop earning 4500 rupees a month ($94)—not plenty, but somewhat enough to sustain his family at the moment. He plans on going back to farming so that he can earn some extra money and send his children to school. Pran says that his dream of seeing his children grow would not have been possible without IBJ’s help.

*Names have been changed

Sopheak* and his lawyer, IBJ Cambodia Country Director Mr. Ouk Vandeth.

By Charlène Buisson

After more than four and a half years spent in prison as an innocent man, Sopheak*—a husband and father—finally attained freedom from Koh Kong prison on 27 March 2013 with the help of IBJ.

Sopheak’s case is the sad story of an innocent man forgotten by the justice system. Back in September 2008, he was arrested and detained for robbery with three of his friends because one of them accused him. He always denied it, and the two other accused claimed that he did not commit the theft. In the trial, which took place in July 2009, the Court of First Instance acquitted him. Nevertheless, the prosecutor appealed, meaning that he could not be released (under Cambodian law, when the prosecutor appeals, the prisoner has to stay in prison until his final judgment).

On 13 January 2012, the Court of Appeal tried the case and confirmed the first court’s decision—Sopheak was acquitted for a second time. The General Prosecutor in the Court of Appeal did not appeal, so the final judgment was issued and sent to Koh Kong Court.

According to the procedure, once the prosecutor receives the final judgment, he must implement it and issue a release order if the prisoner has been acquitted or has done his sentence. But the prosecutor had still not performed this task as of February 2013, when IBJ Fellow and Country Manager Ouk Vandeth came to Koh Kong prison for the first time. For more than a year, Sopheak was languishing in jail “waiting for his judgment on appeal.”

Sopheak agreed to be represented by Vandeth, who investigated his case in the Court of Appeal and found out that his final judgment had already been issued more than a year ago. After copying the verdict, Vandeth went back to Koh Kong to show the document to the prosecutor, who checked in his files and realized that he received it. He felt responsible and quite sorry for his mistake, and after verifying that the General Prosecutor did not appeal to the Supreme Court, issued a release order to the prison.

Before his arrest, Sopheak was a waiter with a wife who was pregnant with a girl. Sadly, after several months in prison, his wife stopped her visits—he does not know where she is now. Life in prison was not easy, but even if he was upset about dwelling in prison for a long time as an innocent man, Sopheak tried to work for the community and follow the rules in order to have the best living conditions possible. Nevertheless, he is now afraid to build close relationships with others, as his friend betrayed him.

The announcement of his release brought forth a lot of emotion in his eyes. He was very happy and impressed by the efficiency of IBJ, which helped him in such a short time. Now he knows where to find legal help, and will spread the word about IBJ. Without IBJ’s intervention, he probably would have stayed longer with no one to inform him of the acquittal on appeal.

His mother came to bring him home, and Sopheak’s first objective as a free man is to find his wife and daughter.

*Client’s name has been changed

This Appeal Case was supported by UNOHCHR.

When IBJ first met Makara in 2009, IBJ’s provincial lawyer in Pursat successfully defended him against a murder charge.  The prosecution appealed and as is usual practice, he remained in detention until an appeal date was assigned.  He felt betrayed by the justice system.  He was stressed because he knew he would have to spend a longer period of time in detention.  But he knew IBJ would continue to fight for his case.  IBJ’s appeal lawyer successfully re-investigated and provided witnesses to prove his innocence once again.  In late December 2012 the Appeal Court acquitted his case once again.

He was first detained in October 2008.  Today, 15 January 2013, after two hours in the scorching sun, we saw him walk out of prison a free man.  His comments were heartbreaking stating:

 “My head feels dizzy being a free man.  I have never been to Phnom Penh and it is so busy.  It is strange to be free and out of my cell. There has been so much change.”

Before his arrest he worked as a fisherman with his father providing for his parents and three siblings.  He had no idea of what a lawyer was and how they could help.  Amazingly a prison guard told him about IBJ, indicating the strength of the relationship IBJ’s Pursat office has with prisons in both Pursat and Kampong Chhnang.

During his time in detention he was allowed up to one or two hours outside of his cell that he shared with up to 100 prisoners.  He was given two very small portions of rice, and sometimes fish.  As is usual with Cambodian culture, he did not complain.  He accepted his fate and the injustice that was afforded to him.

This young man has spent an unnecessary four years in prison only to be acquitted a second time.  He is now 22 and his life is forever changed.  When asked what he would like to do in the future he stated that he wanted to become more literate.  So after purchasing some shoes, IBJ’s Project Officer bought some Khmer and English literary books.  Of all the books he chose the most inspiring was one titled “100 Ways To Motivate Others.”  This young man is an inspiration.

This Appeal Case was supported by UNOHCHR.

*Kate Flower is an Australian Volunteer for International Development (AVID), an AusAID and Australian government initiative.